Mick Bates AM 'waved' scissors at hospital staff

An assembly member threatened hospital staff with a pair of scissors after injuring his head on a night out, a court heard.

Montgomeryshire AM Mick Bates, 62, waved the scissors inches from a heathcare support worker's face, Cardiff magistrates were told.

Mr Bates had earlier been at a restaurant in Cardiff when he had apparently fallen down the stairs.

He denies three charges of assault and public disorder. The case continues.

Mr Bates was taken to the Univerisity Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, for treatment following the incident in January.

Health care support worker Adam Warren told the court how Mr Bates took a pair of scissors out of his uniform pocket and waved them inches from his face.

Mr Warren said: "The next thing I really remember is him taking my scissors out of my pocket. They were just in my face then.

"He has got my scissors in his hand, in my face. All I did, I told him and looked at him and said 'Do you realise that's threatening behaviour?'

"I just quickly managed to get the scissors off him. All the while I was trying to keep hold of him."

He said the AM held the scissors by the handle about six inches from his face before he retrieved them and put them back in his pocket.

"It happened very quickly and I was quite shocked, but my only concern at the time was not letting go of him," he said.

The court also heard that Mr Bates shouted and swore aggressively at staff and grabbed a nurse's arm and refused to let go.

Staff nurse Claire Morris said: "He appeared intoxicated. He was shouting and swearing and I had to call security".

Ms Morris said she was assaulted by Mr Bates when she tried to clean his head with a gauze.

She described how he grabbed her arm, saying: "I had to use what's known as a breakaway technique, because he wouldn't let go."

Bleeding head

His solicitor, Stuart Hutton, has suggested Mr Bates' head injury could have altered his client's behaviour and made him appear uncooperative and even drunk.

The court had previously been told how police and paramedics were called to Charlston's Steakhouse in Cardiff city centre.

Mr Bates at first said he had been assaulted but he later told officers he had fallen.

A police sergeant has given evidence saying he found Mr Bates slumped on the steps, smelling strongly of alcohol and with a bleeding head.

The court has heard how Mr Bates became increasingly aggressive and abusive when paramedics tried to treat him.

Paramedic Carl Jones told the court the politician did not want to go to hospital and punched him in the chest when he tried to check his blood pressure.

He said Mr Bates grabbed his colleague's wrists violently as he tried to put a seatbelt on him.

The assembly member has been suspended from the Welsh Liberal Democrats pending the outcome of the case.

The case has now been adjourned until 4 November.